Mr. Speaker, thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a question for the housing, for housing. Mr. Speaker, I understand about the process, and they are the Ministers. They can direct. We know that nothing gets done without their input or their direction. So I want to ask the Minister, can the Minister of Housing NWT explain why her department doesn't have a policy supporting the sale of market rental units. I still have currently there are some constituents who are living in a market rental housing in my region, and they would like to become a homeowner, and they have been living in those units for over 20 years, and they really want the market rental unit that they have been living in for over 20 years. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I just wanted to just explain market housing was created to address the high income earners. Not only that, but the recruitment of GNWT employees to provide programs and services in our smaller communities. The units that are for sale now are the public housing units, but I am getting some push back from the clients as well that, you know, are they able to afford the units, are units in conditions that they're ready for sale. And also, Mr. Speaker, there is a consultation that is being done right now for the market housing units as well, too, that letters have gone out to the Indigenous governments acknowledging, would they like to work with us, are we going to address this market housing unit need in the smaller communities together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in small communities for many years, you know, there's people do not want to build because there's no market. So that's why housing was the only landlord in many of the small communities. So now many of these people we know what happened when a person who is not on the lease, when the elderly parents pass on, we had a lot of those because of those policy that was in place, many of these people became homeless and some are on the street here, and some have passed on being homeless because of the policy that's in place. So, yes, I understand about that now that she mentioned why the market rental is there, but it's just that why not make if that change the status of the market rental, they are the Minister, to public unit. Can the Minister commit to changing a lot of those public market rental unit to public housing unit? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I just want to be very honest and say, no, I wouldn't be able to do that. Because we do need the programs and services in the smaller communities, we need to be able to house teachers, social workers, nurses in our smaller communities. So there needs to be housing set aside for them as well. But just looking at what the Member had said as well for the generational homes and I do know what she's talking at where we have families that have been raised in these units. These units were built in the 1970s. Going into the next government, this is one of the priorities of housing is how do we transition and how are we going to be dealing with these units that were built in the 70s. I myself personally but I've get to work with the department is I would like to see them all transferred. I would like to see them all transferred. And I would like the federal government to recognize that we need a replenishment of 23, maybe 5,000 units in the Northwest Territories. And hopefully this is going to be a working document for the next government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, many of these houses, just like she said, yes, they are over 50 years old. No social worker or nurses or teachers coming from the south would want to live in many of these condemned houses. And many of our people are living in those units, and nothing is being done. And there's a lot of boarded up houses in my community in my region as well. So that is why I'm pushing for all those units, if they can change the status from market rental to public housing unit because Tlicho government and other organizations are providing housing for many of their staff because we want to keep many of those people to educate and to help and work with our people. But many of them are not going to go into the housing that's available. So that is why I am saying that. So would the Minister commit to selling the units to people based on their commercial value and take into consideration the amount of rent already paid and future maintenance costs when determining the purchase price? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question because that's a mechanism that we are actually working with right now. We need to determine whether the client can actually afford these units and being able to take care of the operation and maintenance of these units themselves without government subsidy. And we're finding it very difficult throughout the Northwest Territories but trying to work with them fairly.
And also, I just wanted to speak about the Tlicho government as well and the working table that we do have established with them. They did get a distinctionbased funding announcement, I want to say in the spring, of $47 million, to address their housing need. And like I had said earlier, is that there is $400 million across the Northwest Territories that has been allocated to Indigenous governments. And this is where we as a territory and we as Indigenous governments, we work together in partnership. And for the agreement that's been signed with the Tlicho government, these are the type of conversations that are actually happening to address the housing crisis in the Member's riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we lived here forever and we survived, you know. And it is not right the government determining or making you know, going directly and saying people are making a decision of who can and cannot afford the housing. So I just want to ask the Minister would the Minister consider giving existing public units to the people who live in them and use the money and use the money that's saved to build more houses in small communities. We do need more houses in small communities. We have people that are on the waitlist. I have families. There's five families that are waiting in Behchoko alone. There's nine one family has nine. There's nine of them waiting for a house and living in a onebedroom unit with other family members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. You know, like I had said that this is this is a strategy that we're using within housing and trying to have our clients become successful and having them to own their own units. And we're finding difficulty, to be honest, very much. You know, we're not having people that are able to repair their own stairs, pay for their heating. And it's a difficult time right now. And all of these units are they're drastically subsidized. You can be living in a unit that's going to cost us $20,000, maybe even more, for us to operate and maintain, and the client would only be paying $75. So we need to find a balance where we're able to have the clients become successful in operating and maintaining their own home, and acknowledging that we do have a hundred unit rollout. In Behchoko alone, the community has received six additional units. Nine throughout the region as well. It's probably you know, to just give her an idea of what we are facing within the Northwest Territories, we are in a housing crisis, and housing has done what they possibly can do working with the Indigenous governments, working with the federal government to address this housing need. And like I had said, all together for the portfolio, there's $400 million that's been allocated. $200 million from this government. There's $600 million throughout the Northwest Territories. And that's still not enough. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
